The Super Soldier And The Great Assassin
by SherlockingTheHobbitsToAsgard
Summary: Valerie Ford is a killer like no other and she's tired of it. But when a new threat darkens the World, Valerie is recruited to the Avengers. What she didn't expect to learn, however, is that these remarkable outcasts are the only ones who can teach her what it really is to be human. And that Steve Rogers is the only person to ever look at her without fear in his eyes. Steve OC.
1. The Rose

**Hi, guys! OK, first Avengers story that I've been mulling over for weeks. And yes, it's just another shameless Steve OC character. I honestly couldn't help myself after seeing the Avengers for the third time last Saturday. I hope you enjoy it, this is just the first chapter but I'm not sure how long it'll take me for the second. You'll just have to "bear with". x**

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**Chapter 1**

The woman slid between the trees of the dark forest. To all those who saw her, she was just a shadow. A flicker of movement in the corner of your eye and then she was gone. Leaving as fast as she came. When she'd first entered the forest it had been broad daylight, but the closeness of the trees made it near impossible for any light to meet the forest floor. Not a leaf crunched or twig snapped under her feet, she was as silent as the night. She moved like air. She reached the edge of the forest in no time at all. In her sights was a small shack in the centre of a clearing. Light was able to shine down into this small circle of the wood. It was nothing special, nothing seemingly important. Her dark eyes studied the dilapidated house. It was nothing but ruins in the middle of a dark forest... Where no one could here you scream. Quick as lightning, she was at the door. She tested it a few times before moving across to a small window.

Inside, a man waited. His fingers were clutched around a gun and it was aimed at the door. He was waiting for the girl people simply referred to as 'The Rose'. A beautiful but thorny character, which could draw blood in a heartbeat if you got too close. Anyone that had crossed her path and lived to tell the tale was a _very _lucky man or woman. Usually, there's not enough left of the places she visits to show there was even a civilization in the first place. Sweat dripped down his forehead, running down his neck. He felt ice cold and red hot at the same time. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. She was here. And she was behind him.

"Hello, Mr. Fine." He gulped, all the feeling in his body suddenly leaving him. He tried to swallow but his mouth was too dry. Closing his eyes tightly, he ever so slowly turned around to face her. There she stood, in all her deathly glory. She was effortlessly beautiful and that only added to the fear. She was deceptive and she knew it.

"Rose." He whispered. The woman frowned. _Why did people insist on calling her that? She had an actual name, not just an alias. _She ignored it for now, choosing to revisit the thought when she was at home.

"You've been bad, haven't you, Neil." She spoke softly. Her voice was calm and sweet, like someone talking to a child. "You don't mind me calling you Neil, do you?" Neil cocked the gun, wearing his best poker face. "Oh, you know that thing's no use on me, sweetie."

"I'll take my chances." From his accent, she guessed Swedish or Scandinavian at least. This was good; she'd got the right guy. Some of the people she worked with were complete idiots and sometimes messed up the files. Too many time had the wrong person been killed by other workers. Not her though, she prided herself in always getting her guy.

"Hm, do you know why I'm here, Mr. Fine?" He didn't answer, he simply fired the gun. The Rose swept across the room, avoiding the bullet with ease and grabbing Neil's shoulder. She twisted and pulled back his shooting arm and heard the bone snap. Neil screamed and fell to the floor, clutching his now useless arm. She stepped forward and raised her own gun, pressing the barrel to the back of his neck. "I'm here because you have been dealing in something no one else is. You've turned a few heads and certainly caught _my _attention." Neil heard the click of the gun as she took off the safety. "What was that cargo, Mr. Fine?" Neil sighed and realised there really was no way out. He cradled his splintered arm as he mumbled,

"HYDRA weapons." The Rose raised a perfect eyebrow.

"I'm sorry?"

"Weapons of mass destruction used by some crackpot German in World War 2." He hurried. She pushed the gun closer into his neck.

"Where did you get them?" She asked.

"A business man in Belgium. He gave me a good deal, he told me they'd change the world." She rolled her eyes,

"I didn't know you cared about the good of the world, Neil. I'm touched, I really am." Neil could feel the sarcasm dripping off of her and was reminded of the absolute danger that surrounded him.

"It's just business, Miss. Rose." He spat.

"You'd be surprised at how often I hear that."

"Surely, your little organisation has a better use of its time than stopping petty smuggling."

"You'd think, wouldn't you." Came the bored reply. The man was braver than she gave him credit for.

"Is that why you're here, Miss. Rose? Did your little Initiative send their perfect assassin to kill me over a few guns?" He chuckled nervously. "You came all the way here from England, Miss. Rose, you must be worn out. Why don't you sit down and we'll chat. l'll even make some tea-"

"Shut it." She hissed. He raised his one hand in a peaceful motion. "And my name isn't Rose." She added. Neil sighed with relief as felt the gun leave his neck.

"What is it?" He asked. He turned to face her and she punched him in the face, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"Valerie Ford." She said. "My name's Valerie Ford." She walked past him to the door and glanced back. "The last name you'll ever hear." She added. Neil felt his heart rate increase. _What did she mean by that? Holy crap, he needed to get out of here. _He stumbled to his feet but froze when he heard a soft beep. The beep doubled in speed and suddenly, Mr. Neil Fine wished he hadn't bothered getting out of bed this morning.

"No!" He cried. But it was too late.

Valerie walked away from the shack. A pair of sunglasses adorned her face and a smirk played on her lips. She lifted a remote device and pressed a red button. The shack exploded. A red fireball shot into the sky and the mushroom cloud that followed blacked out the sun. Valerie Ford, The Red Rose, had claimed another victim. Just another day in the life of the World's greatest assassin.

"Sorry, Neil." She said. "It's just business."


	2. The New Mission

**Chapter 2**

The punch bag was really take a beating today. This was Steve's sixth over the course of an hour and judging by the look of it, there was bound to be a seventh. Steve was furious. Too many times had Tony pushed his buttons and driven him to his limit. That man was insufferable. In all his life, he'd never met anyone so thick headed, so short tempered, so selfish, so- The punch bad split and flew across the room, landing with a heavy thud. Steve stared at it then sighed and walked away from the mess. Two months had passed since Loki had turned up and destroyed the city. Most of the buildings were now being repaired but it would take a while. Steve loved the adventure of being a superhero. He loved being able to help people. But this was all too much. He remembered the day he had woken up, just a little over a year ago. So much had happened since then. He unwrapped the bandages from his hands and chucked them into his sports bag. He missed the 30's. Everything had been easier then. He missed the simplicity. He missed the music. He missed the dancing. Suddenly, Steve felt sick. He had missed his date. Swallowing hard, he threw his kit bag over his shoulder and walked slowly out the room.

"Aren't you gonna clear that up?" Steve stopped, smirked and turned around. Natasha Romanoff raised an eyebrow at him and slowly turned her head to the punch bag. Steve nodded,

"I'm gonna take a shower first." Natasha frowned at him. This made Steve nervous. He had never been very good around women. And not only was Natasha a beautiful woman, she was a very scary, very intelligent, very dangerous woman who could read people like a book.

"Are you OK? She asked after scrutinising his face for the longest few seconds of Steve's life. He nodded and smiled bashfully.

"Yeah, just a little tired." It was clear on Natasha's face that she didn't believe him, but she let it pass.

"Fine, well, when you're done, Fury wants us all up on the Main Flight Deck." She said. Steve nodded and raised a hand in farewell. She smirked and turned to leave. Steve watched her walk away before sighing and continuing to the shower.

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Every member of the Avengers Initiative was present at the large conference table when Steve walked in. They were arguing. As usual. And he didn't understand most of what they were saying. As usual.

"The hyper links are fine, it's the proactive calibrators that need fixing."

"I think you'll find, Tony, that the calibrators were fine tuned yesterday by me personally. It's your hollow fibre cosma-blending that's causing us all this trouble." Bruce and Tony were arguing about science stuff while Hawkeye watched in amusement, making small remarks here and there to get both men even more riled up. Natasha was talking calmly to Thor whilst trying to reprimand Hawkeye for causing trouble and Thor was booming back at her. Steve smiled. Believe it or not, he actually liked times like this. This is when his team felt most like a family to him. He sat down in a vacant chair and Tony smirked across at him,

"Morning, Cap. Still not used to waking up? I wouldn't be after 70 years either." He said playfully. Steve chewed the inside of his cheek, biting back a response,

"Morning, Tony." He replied wearily. He tried to stay annoyed at him, but Tony's amused expression assured Steve that he was only joking. Things had gotten a lot better between him and Tony after they finally got over the idea of there being one leader. Steve secretly still thought of it as his team but that was OK, because Tony liked his position as loveable rogue and joke maker. Sometimes they were friendly with each other, but sometimes one of them went too far (this was usually Tony). They were just two very different people, each with a very clear image of what they wanted to happen in a situation which just happened to be the opposite of what the other was thinking. They disagreed a lot, but they were close. It was a love/hate relationship but it worked. Director Fury came striding into the conference room closely followed by Agent Hill.

"Morning, everyone." He greeted, taking his place at the head of the table. The chatter quickly died away and all eyes turned to the Director. With a satisfied smirk, Fury sat down at the table.

"And we're here at this ungodly hour because..?" Tony mused. Unlike the rest of the helicarrier, who got up at around 6, Tony Stark was probably the only person onboard who waited until the early afternoon to declare he was up and about.

"A new issue has arisen." Fury told the team. Clint shrugged,

"So the usual, find the bad guy, kick his ass then come home for dinner? Sounds like a plan to me." He said earning himself another glare from his partner, Natasha.

"Not quite." Fury replied. This recaptured Steve's attention. Something new?

"Other the past few days we have been tracking Donald Gillanhiem." Maria Hill spoke up, using her long fingers to move the touch screen technology around her. She flicked her wrist upward, sending a blue file onto the main screen in front of the table. With a few taps, it was open and a picture of a slick haired, greasy looking man with unusually bright teeth and pale eyes appeared.

"Wait, _the_ Donald Gillanhiem? Donald Gillanhiem the millionaire?" Natasha checked.

"The very same." Fury nodded.

"We all know his story. Gillanhiem electronics are some of the best in the country." Maria added. Steve sighed. Once again, he was being left behind. He raised a finger,

"Uh, I don't know his story." He pointed out. Tony shrugged his shoulders,

"It's always the same old thing." He explained. "Some normal guy suddenly finds himself landed with a brilliant new concept. A new idea that'll change humanity." He raised his hands and wriggled his fingers, his tone mocking.

"He started to sell his products a few years ago." Bruce added. "From toasters to thermonuclear devices which are used in laboratories across the country. Back at the lab in California, all our equipment was designed by him."

"So, what's the matter with him?" Steve asked, turning back to Fury.

"We have reason to believe he has been working on something new. Something big. Something dangerous." Agent Hill explained to the team. "Our spies have been checking up on him for the past few weeks but they couldn't get past his security."

"Wait, are you saying that S.H.I.E.L.D can't get into somewhere?" Tony asked. He laughed at the concept and clapped his hands. "Well done, Mr. Gillanhiem." He murmured, more to himself than any of the others.

"Yes and as you can guess, we don't like being kept in the dark." Fury said, his voice edged with annoyance.

"Not even I could get into that place." Natasha said gloomily. She pursed her lips. "That place is full to the brim with armed guards, security systems... Need I say more?"

"You're pretty annoyed about that aren't you, ginger snap." Tony joked. His smile dissolved when Natasha sent him a dark look.

"Naturally, we would like to know why our top spies have been made to look like mall cops." Fury's voice interrupted them.

"What do you want us to do?" Thor spoke up for the first time.

"We need you to infiltrate his main warehouse." Maria said, sweeping her hand across the screen so that a new image was shown. It was a photograph of a clean, metal building with the Gillanhiem logo on the front, a red letter G surrounded by blue and yellow circles. The slogan of Gillanhiem Electrics was written in cursive letters below it.

_'We may be a business, but what we deal in is trust.'_

"How ironic..." Bruce muttered, thinking along the same lines as Steve.

"This is where Donald Gillanhiem does most of his work. We need you to get in there and make sure he's not up to anything too Earth shattering." Fury said with a twist of humour.

"How are we gonna do that?" Tony asked. "I mean, Tasha and Clint are spies, yes, but the rest of us aren't very good at being inconspicuous." Steve had to agree with him on that one. Iron Man was famous throughout the World, Thor was a Norse God for crying out loud and he himself had apparently become an iconic person in History. If that wasn't bad enough, half the World has seen them defeating the Chitauri two months ago. And on top of that, their suits were anything but subtle.

"We thought about that. That's why we've employed the help of a very special weapon." Fury said. Steve frowned,

"What is it?" He asked. Fury smirked and raised a hand in farewell.

"That's what I'm going to sort out now." He told them, walking away. The door slid shut behind him before they could ask any more questions. They all turned back to Maria, faces woven with confusion. She only gave them all a knowing smile.

"So," she said. "About this Gillanhiem..."

"Why not?" Steve said. He smirked and turned to the others. "I like a challenge."

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**I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooo sorry! I know, I know, I know, what has it been, 5 months? I am so, so sorry. And this chapter isn't even very exciting! Ugh, I'm such a terrible person. I hate myself. Sorry. Again. Sorry.**


	3. Into Battle

**I'm not even going to attempt to apologise for the lateness... And the atrocity that is this short-arse chapter.**

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Tony looked himself over in the mirror one last time. He was wearing his sharpest suit and had, under strict instruction from Pepper, showered, shaved and combed his hair. He ran a hand absentmindedly over his chin. He had to look as business-like and professional as possible if their plan was to work. Plans, he had discovered, were not SHIELDs strong point so there was a lot of pressure on his part in the act. If this went wrong, he'd be for it. Tony closed his eyes and remembered all the times he had been in court over the years, whether he believed it to be his fault or not and sighed. This time would be different. With a smirk at the mirror he dusted imaginary dust off of his shoulders and lapels. He winked at the mirror and tilted his head on one side.

"How long have you been in this business, Tony, and you're still a good looking guy." He told himself. With a final check of his watch he pulled open his bedroom door and walked to the front room.

After Loki's attack on New York, Stark Tower had become second home to all of the Avengers. Tony had insisted they stayed together. He liked his motley family and the trouble he could cause. The building had to be rebuilt anyway so he and Pepper (mostly Pepper) kitted the top floors out with deluxe rooms for each of the team, especially suited to their needs, so if they weren't at the helicarrier that had been fixed since its almost destruction, they were hanging out here.

An almost worried looking Steve met him in the living room. He wasn't dressed in his uniform, which was an odd sight. Tony had old propaganda posters up all around the Tower of Steve's Captain America alter ego telling them to 'By war bonds!' or 'Sign up today!' which amused Tony no end. They'd belonged o his father so he liked having them around but they were mostly there to annoy Rogers who rolled his eyes every time a new poster cropped up.

"Are you ready, Stark?" The taller man asked. Tony patted his breast pocket and frowned,

"One more thing." He muttered, walking to the bar and picking up a gleaming metal box. The lid slid open at his touch and revealed a small, metal disk about the size of a contact lens, nestled on velvet cushion. Tony checked it over quickly to make sure everything was working before sliding the box closed and putting it into his pocket. He nodded at Steve, "There, let's go."

They walked side by side to the stairs which led to the roof. A SHIELD helicopter stood there proudly, gleaming black in the afternoon sun. Natasha and Clint were already settled inside while Bruce stood nervously away from the machine, wringing his hands and watching the cars and buses and people go by below. He was worried. He had, as Tony had said, quite a lid on the Hulk, and he was sure that a simple helicopter ride wouldn't send him over the edge. But he worried that if anything went wrong for the team inside Gillanhiem's factory then he wouldn't be able to hold back any longer. Tony noticed Bruce's anxiety as he slipped on his sunglasses. He was about to go over and talk to his friend when Steve's voice broke though his thoughts.

"I still can't believe you're just going to waltz in to the factory." Tony sighed. They'd been through this over and over again. He couldn't blame the Captain though, it was risky what they were about to try and achieve.

"I am Gillanhiem's main market contender." He said simply. "When he heard I wanted to set up a meeting he practically gushed with excitement." Steve gestured to Tony's pocket where the box was being kept.

"Is it safe?" he asked, both about the mission and the technology. Tony grinned and they continued walking to the helicopter.

"That's the beauty of it. I waltz in like you said, put on a show for the guy and sound interested in his work. I then plant this on one of his mainframe computers and Natasha can use it to decode the locks."

"Then we can get into the control room without getting caught." Natasha chimed in from inside the helicopter. Steve nodded his approval.

"Sounds like a plan. What will you be doing?" he asked Banner who smiled nervously and raised his hands.

"Oh, I don't want to get in the way-" But Tony placed a hand on his shoulder and grinned.

"Bruce will be accompanying me." He announced. Bruce rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow at his friend.

"Why?" Tony sent him a Cheshire Cat smile and shrugged his shoulders.

"I need a side-kick don't I?" When Bruce narrowed his eyes at him, Tony removed his hand and laughed. "Just joking, sweetheart, you'll be acting as my partner in the business." He jumped into the helicopter and settled down beside Clint. Steve noticed Bruce looking nervous again and clapped a hand down on his shoulder.

"You ready for this?" he asked. Bruce rolled his shoulder whilst trying not to show how much the Captain's friendly pat had injured him. He nodded and gave him a sarcastic smile as they walked towards the helicopter.

"Yeah, sure, this is gonna be fun."


End file.
